Five nurses fired for Facebook postings

The nurses, who worked at Tri-City Medical Center in Oceanside, lost their jobs after an internal investigation and three weeks of administrative leave. While no details of the incident have been revealed, Larry Anderson, CEO of Tri-City Medical Center, has said that no patient names, photos or identifying information were included in the posts.

This isn’t the first time nurses have gotten into trouble for Facebook postings. In 2008, a photo of a topless British nurse — with patients in the background — appeared online, causing the hospital, Northampton General Hospital, to block acess to all social networking sites from work computers. In 2009, Wisconsin nurses were fired after two nurses took photos of a patient’s X-ray and allegedly posted it to Facebook. While the Facebook page was quickly removed, one of the nurses in question admitted to discussing the incident on her Facebook page. Photos ofÂ nurses having a food fight atÂ Stafford Hospital in the UKÂ also surfaced in 2009, quickly creating an uproar because the incident took place after a heavily publicized report that linked patient deaths to staff shortages and poor nursing care.

While a number of hospitals have social media policies in place — and HIPAA strictly enforces patient privacy and confidentiality — incidents continue to occur. How do you think hospitals should handle questionable social media postings? Is it ever appropriate to upload work pictures or to discuss work online?

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